North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the removal of all South Korean facilities at the Mount Geumgang tourist resort, putting the resumption of South Korean tours to the mountain at risk.
The Seoul government is looking to find out the North's intentions.
Oh Jung-hee tells us more.
A key inter-Korean joint economic project South Korean tours to North Korea's Geumgang mountain is at risk.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the removal of South Korean facilities at the tourist resort, criticizing his father who had pushed ahead with the tours.
According to North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday, Kim looked around the facilities at the Mount Geumgang tourist area that South Korea built when the tours first began.
He strongly criticized the buildings, saying they "aesthetically lag behind" and "look shabby."
In a rare move, Kim criticized his own father the former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il who pushed ahead with the inter-Korean project saying it was "wrong" to expect benefits by offering the area and depending on others.
He ordered the removal of all South Korean facilities there after consulting with the South Korean side... and stressed that the North will have to replace them with modern, North Korean-style facilities.
He added... Geumgang-san mountain is not an asset that's shared by the two Koreas and does not symbolize inter-Korean relations.
The news took the South Korean government by surprise, especially as the two Koreas had agreed at the summit in September last year... to resume South Korean tours to the mountain when conditions are ripe.
"Kim's opinions were made through the North Korean media, so we are currently trying to find out the North's intentions and check factual details. The government will talk with the North if the North asks it to... in terms of protecting South Korean citizens' property and keeping the spirit of inter-Korean agreements."
South Korea has not yet received a proposal for talks from the North about this yet.
Kim Jong-un's ordering of the demolition of South Korean facilities at the tourist resort is expected to raise issues, especially about whether South Korean assets there can be secured... and whether the North is scrapping the inter-Korean joint declaration.
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.
Staying with the topic Hyundai Asan Corporation,... the primary enterprise in the tourism business with North Korea,... said in a brief statement said it was perturbed by the report of the North Korean leader's pledge but said it would "respond in a calm manner" to developments.